Field of Invention
The disclosed subject matter is in the field of neonate wraps and related methods.
Background of the Invention
Recent statistics indicate that newborn babies are dropped by parents, midwifes, or hospital staff at a rate of twenty-two (22) times for every nineteen-thousand (19,000) births. Increases in newborn baby illnesses or diseases, like methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), and other hospital-acquired infections (i.e., nosocomial infections), have also been reported in recent years. Some have suggested that increased popularity of skin-to-skin newborn care techniques (sometimes called Kangaroo care because of skin-to-skin techniques' resemblance to the marsupials' newborn in-pouch treatment techniques) are to blame for increased baby drops and infections.
Placing the blame of increased use of skin-to-skin techniques on increased newborn disease and increased injury is rational. Skin-to-skin techniques necessarily involve the handoff of newborns between parents and staff, holding of newborns by inexperienced or untrained parents, and contact of the newborn with the sometimes unclean skin of an adult. So, a need exists for improvements to apparatus and related methods for accomplishing skin-to-skin newborn baby care.